Video Premiere: A Son Copes With His Mother’s Cancer, Shaves A Few Heads Along The Way In Nicky Romero vs. Krewella’s ‘Legacy’

Nicky Romero and Krewella’s “Legacy” video is a powerful story about being there for the people you love.

For a track as viscerally uplifting as “Legacy” — the collaboration between Dutch DJ and producer Nicky Romero and two-thirds of the Chicago electronic trio Krewella (aka Nicky Romero vs. Krewella) — you’d need a pretty striking video to do it justice.

This clip, directed by Kyle Padilla, is more than up to the task. “When the walls around me are caving in/ you saved my life tonight,” vocalists Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf sing over a build toward a rocket blast of progressive house. They’re probably referring to the power of music, but in Padilla’s vision, those lyrics takes on an even more important meaning.

Watch Nicky Romero vs. Krewella’s “Legacy” video after the jump.

As the video opens, we meet a mother fretting over how she looks in the mirror after undergoing cancer treatments. Needless to say, she’s nervous about wearing a wig in public. Noticing her anxiety, her son takes some drastic steps to make her feel better, even if it means acting as a sort of empathy vigilante outside of the law. The video goes on to follow a series of seemingly malevolent attacks from the son and his friends over Romero’s soundtrack of dynamic bass explosions and big-room house energy.

“I was inspired to come up with the concept a couple of years ago when a relative of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Padilla told us. “It was on my mind a lot, and I had been waiting for the right track/client to pitch it to. My goal is for this video to raise awareness for breast cancer in an honest and respectful manner.”

“At its core, this video is a love story between son and mother,” he went on. “The story told in the original is about a young boy, Michael, who sets out to even the odds for his mother, who is battling cancer. While he is somewhat naive and his actions are slightly misdirected, his sincere sentiment and raw determination to help his mother are what ultimately give her the strength to continue on in her fight against cancer. I hope that the mother’s reaction demonstrates how you can help someone going through a rough time simply by showing them how much you love them and are behind them.”

Padilla, who has directed videos for Romero before (see: his “Like Home” collab with NERVO), is working on a short film based on the concept that he’d eventually like to turn into a feature.

The idea of helping someone you love comes through in “Legacy”‘s lyrics as well, he says. “Lyrically, it works as the mother’s thank-you to her son, who tries to help her through this difficult time in her life, whereas the instrumental drives the high energy of the action.”

What’s more, three of the actors who shaved their heads in the video donated the hair to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy. “Their mission is to return a sense of self, confidence, and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss, which was in line with what the protagonist in this video is trying to do for his mother,” said Padilla. “We were honored to be able to help this organization’s cause.”